The Woman Who Stole My Flower
Chapter 11
Chapter 11
#11.
“I’ll be working with the CSR team from now on.”
Everyone doubted their ears at once. Why on earth would Kang Joo-heon join the CSR team, of all teams—the company’s resident punching bag?
Of course, Kang Joo-heon was hardly the type of person who possessed the temper to kindly explain himself. Ignoring their astonished stares, he turned to the head of the Public Relations Office and asked:
“By the way, do I not have a secretary?”
“If you need one, of course we’ll assign one to you! If we post a job opening and hire someone, it’ll take at least a week or two, so if you could wait just a little…….”
“There’s no need to go that far. I’ll tell you the details over the phone later.”
Whose orders would dare be defied? The head of PR immediately groveled.
“Yes, please call anytime. I’ll be on standby all night.”
“Then I’ll excuse myself first. Have a good evening.”
The remaining people stared in shock at Kang Joo-heon’s back as he stood up and walked out without a trace of regret.
*
She really, truly wasn’t drunk. She was definitely walking straight, but the road kept bending and swaying, making her dizzy, so Yeon-seo decided to rest for a bit at a bus stop.
In the dead of night, the bus stop was deserted. As the chilly wind brushed against her cheeks, flushed from alcohol, her wandering senses seemed to return just a little.
Sitting on the bench at the bus stop, Yeon-seo swung her feet and mumbled:
“I’ve lost my mind…….”
She couldn’t believe what she had just done. Right in front of the exalted Kang Joo-heon, headbutting Manager Sung Hye-eun of all people, turning the whole atmosphere ice-cold, and then storming out as she pleased. If someone had told her this morning that she would do this, she wouldn’t have believed them.
“You’re crazy, Jung Yeon-seo…….”
“At least you know.”
A voice suddenly cut in. Startled, she looked up—when had he gotten here? A large man in a suit, hands shoved into the pockets of his trench coat, stood before Yeon-seo.
“Uh, Director Kang Joo-heon!”
“Are you drunk?”
Joo-heon asked, sounding dumbfounded.
“You only had three shots of soju.”
When on earth did he count that?
“I’m an al-sseu, you see. Do you know what an al-sseu is?”
Without waiting for an answer, Yeon-seo said:
“Alcohol trash. Someone who can’t hold their liquor.”
Saying it out loud sounded so funny that she giggled.
“Isn’t it hilarious? There’s so much real trash in the world, but just because you can’t drink, they call you trash.”
Without smiling, he drove the point home.
“No, you are trash.”
At his resentful glare, Yeon-seo felt irritation gradually flare inside her. From Yeon-seo’s perspective, Kang Joo-heon was practically a total stranger, so how could she feel good about someone she barely knew glaring at her and calling her trash to her face?
Honestly, bluntly speaking, it wasn’t like she had forced him when he didn’t want it, so why look at her with those eyes? It’s not like he didn’t enjoy it too.
She knew his purity was precious and expensive, but it had been her first time too. She was also a precious daughter cherished and raised by her dad!
“Excuse me, but did something really happen that night?”
Fueled by alcohol, Yeon-seo had completely lost all fear.
“What?”
Joo-heon flinched.
“Like I told you before, I really don’t remember a single thing from that night. So who knows, maybe nothing actually happened and you just made it all up, Director?”
Yeon-seo was completely serious.
Kang Joo-heon acted as if Yeon-seo had committed some unforgivable atrocity, but no matter how much she thought about it, she couldn’t imagine having done anything to him.
“Then what about this?”
He hastily loosened his tie and pulled back the collar of his dress shirt. On his masculine neck, a vivid red mark remained clearly visible.
“Who made this, then?”
What is that, some cultural artifact that he’s preserved it so carefully? He could have at least rubbed an egg over it like I did! Yeon-seo almost turned bright red, but she forced a shameless response.
“H-How should I know?”
“What?”
“Do you have proof that it was me?”
Yeon-seo closed her eyes, covered her ears with both hands, and stubbornly threw a tantrum.
“I don’t know! Since I don’t remember, it never happened anyway!”
After staying like that for a while, she cracked an eye open to find Joo-heon staring at her. Looking at her truly as if she were a piece of trash.
“You’re hopeless, seriously.”
Yeon-seo suddenly became curious.
“By the way… Director, why do you keep speaking informally to me?”
She wasn’t trying to pick a fight; she was genuinely curious. He had spoken casually to Yeon-seo from the very start. It wasn’t because he was arrogant, but rather felt like the way someone spoke when they had known you from a long, long time ago, which felt strange to her.
“Then you can speak informally too.”
“Me? Oh gosh, if I did that, I’d be fired instantly!”
Waving her hand dismissively, Yeon-seo suddenly grew sad.
“Then again, I’m getting fired anyway…….”
Headbutting Manager Sung Hye-eun of all people. No matter how she looked at it, this wasn’t the kind of sin one could survive.
“I can’t get fired…….”
After everything she did to get into this company. When she had so much work to do. Overcome with sorrow, tears welled in her eyes. She wished someone would just hold her. And right beside her, coincidentally, was an embrace that seemed perfect to sink into.
“Could you hold me for a second?”
As she stood up and opened her arms, Joo-heon recoiled in shock and stepped back.
“Do you have no conscience at all?”
“I’ve already thrown my dignity away anyway.”
When she wrapped her arms around his waist and clung to him like a cicada to an old tree, Kang Joo-heon gasped in horror.
“Wait……!”
Yeon-seo buried herself in the man’s chest, feigning ignorance. The man who had acted so appalled surprisingly didn’t push her away once she was in his arms. If he wanted to push her off by force, he easily could have.
“…….”
A moment later, feeling his arms carefully wrap around her in return, tears pricked her eyes for no reason at all.
Ever since she was little, Yeon-seo rarely remembered anyone hugging her like this. Her mother had run away when she was young, and her dad had a disability.
The embrace of this easily angered man was unexpectedly broad and warm.
“I’m going to get fired, aren’t I……?”
Burying her face in his chest, Yeon-seo sobbed.
“I can’t… really, if I get fired…….”
“There are plenty of companies. What are you worried about?”
His embracing arms were warm, but his tone remained brusque. Listening only to his voice, it felt as though the person holding her and the person speaking were two different people.
“Is there a reason it has to be this one?”
Because she didn’t know if she could do the same work if she went somewhere else.
“Everyone says it. That they only go to work because they have to, just for the paycheck.”
“…….”
“But for me, I truly love doing this work. When I’m doing this job, I can be of help to someone. That makes me so happy.”
Words poured out of her unprompted. Mind you, this wasn’t because Yeon-seo lacked discretion. It was because his chest was so broad, because the arms holding her were so warm.
“It’s been like that since I was young. Hurt, in pain, weak, lonely…… my heart just kept going out to things like that.”
Was it because of her disabled dad, or because she had so often been ostracized by friends as a child? Even friends she got along with and played with well would drift away at some point.
At first, she hadn’t understood. Why did Ji-yeon, why did Min-joo, why did Hee-na—why did they treat me like that?
[I’m sorry, Yeon-seo. My mom told me not to play with you.]
[Why-y?]
[Well… she said your mom ran away…….]
Because of that, from some point on, she always cared deeply about people who resembled her, people in similar situations. She had originally thought about becoming a social worker, but with someone at home she needed to take care of, she couldn’t go that far; instead, she applied for a CSR role.
Even in today’s world where having too much of everything is the problem, there are still people who don’t have enough. There are single mothers whose eyes well with tears over a pair of baby sneakers, and children who rejoice as if they own the world over a single set of new athletic clothes. Whenever that happened, Yeon-seo felt the true value of doing this job deep in her heart.
That was why she wanted to keep doing it for a long, long time.
That wasn’t all. If she left the company, her immediate livelihood would be bleak. The gimbap shop’s revenue was barely enough to cover monthly rent, so Yeon-seo had practically been shouldering the living expenses for a long time now.
“I really, truly can’t get fired…….”
As she repeated the same words like a broken recorder, a sigh finally reached her ears.
“Then try leaning on the power of authority.”
“Authority? Who?”
Yeon-seo’s ears perked up, and she lifted her head.
“Right here. Close by.”
Where? She hurriedly looked left and right, but saw no one.
“Why do you always treat people like invisible men?”
Joo-heon looked down at Yeon-seo as if annoyed. Ah, is the gentle time over? Yeon-seo tactfully stepped back from his embrace.
“What did I do?”
“Grab anyone passing by and ask them. Where in the world would you find someone who’s never watched a single one of my matches!”
“If everyone else watches them, there’s no need for me to watch too.”
